Among the most fascinating features of late medieval English religion are the cults that sprang up, honouring various political figures as holy martyrs and saints. Although these cults may seem curious, even bizarre, to moderns – particularly since many, if not all, of these political martyrs failed to demonstrate much evidence of conventional sanctity while they were alive – these cults were neither necessarily ephemeral nor obscure. Some, such as those venerating Thomas, earl of Lancaster and Richard Scrope, archbishop of York (executed in 1322 and 1405 respectively for their involvement in unsuccessful rebellions against the crown) lasted until the Reformation, while one, venerating Henry vi, attained national popularity. Political martyrs have already been the object of study, most notably in a seminal article by Simon Walker, but Danna Piroyansky's new book goes far beyond these earlier efforts, partly because she examines these cults, not only in their political contexts, but in their religious and cultural contexts as well. Another strength of her book is its scope. Piroyansky examines not only the three most successful (at least in cultic terms) of these political martyrs – Lancaster, Scrope and Henry vi – but she also looks at other more transient cults, which honoured, if sometimes only briefly, various late medieval English kings, princes, aristocrats and bishops, all of whom died violently, as martyrs and saints. She also asks why certain other political leaders – such as Duke Humphrey of Gloucester or Archbishop Simon Sudbury – who died violently, or were believed to have died violently, under circumstances that should have assured veneration, failed to inspire cults. In doing this, Piroyansky offers useful observations on the circumstances and qualities that created the successful cult of a political martyr. Among the features which were desiderata, if not absolutely essential, in the formation of the cult of a political martyr were primarily a victim's body (the lack of which inhibited the development of a cult around Edward v and his brother) and patrons to promote the cult (these were crucial to the success of the cult of Lancaster and, as Piroyansky convincingly argues, the lack of such patrons prevented cults developing around two prelates murdered by outraged mobs, Simon Sudbury and Walter Stapledon). One of the few criticisms that I would make of Piroyansky's book is that it somewhat downplays one crucial factor in the development of the cults of political martyrs, i.e. the way that subjects of those cults which lasted more than a generation evolved from being political martyrs into helper saints. Piroyansky certainly supplies examples of this, from Richard Scrope's becoming a protector of ships and travellers, to Thomas of Lancaster becoming, through a circuitous chain of associations, a helper to women in labour. (Although she also observes that Henry vi became a protector against the plague, Piroyansky might have made more use of L. A. Craig's article on Henry vi's popularity as a powerful helper against a wide range of lethal ills.) It would have been helpful if Piroyansky had made this crucial point more explicitly. Another strength of this monograph is the range of evidence that Piroyansky draws upon to support her analyses; she makes good use of chronicles and hagiographies as well as prayers and poems but she also effectively utilises manuscript illuminations, paintings, sculpture and stained glass windows. In doing so, Piroyansky has provided the fullest account of the political martyrs and their cults, one which examines them in their religious and cultural contexts as well as the political one. Yet Piroyansky has done more than this. Some of her observations and arguments, such as her intriguing suggestion that the clergy of York decided not to attempt to secure the canonisation of Richard Scrope but to divert the time and money into fostering his cult at the local level, have important ramifications for understanding the process of canonisation and cult formation in late medieval Europe. This volume should be read by anyone interested not only in martyrdom and sanctity but in late medieval Christianity itself.